Abnormal Peripheries : Slovak and Czech Performance Art in the 1960s And 70s.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Cermak, Sam.

Series:

Rethinking Art's Histories Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Laufová, Ľuba.

Mlynárčik, Alex.

Knižák, Milan.

Totalitarianism and art.

Art, Slovak.

Local Subjects:

Laufová, Ľuba.

Mlynárčik, Alex.

Knižák, Milan.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (261 pages)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Manchester : Manchester University Press, 2026.

Summary:

Abnormal peripheries traces an early history of performance art from the former Czechoslovakia, telling a unique story of localised resistance to a monolithic public sphere through artistic intervention, a closely knit community, artistic exchange, and agonistic reframing of socialism as a philosophy rather than state ideology.

Contents:

Cover

Half Title

Series Page

Title Page

Copyright information

Contents

Figures

Acknowledgements

Introduction: towards a peripheral pluralism of performance

Looking sideways

Looking around

Looking back

Looking critically

Looking at words

Looking forward

Notes

Chapter 1: Disappeared Ľuba: Slovak body art and feminist politics in the work of Ľuba Lauffová

Feminist body art and the oxymoronic art canons

Body art and feminism in Slovakia

Bodies and disappearance of gender in sport and leisure

Disappearance and agency in artmaking and exhibiting

Nude and body as an archive of the artist

Archives of bodies and bodies of work

Obituaries instead of conclusions

Chapter 2: Selfish performances: Marxist humanism as individualism in Czech body art

The body, body art, and the political

The Prague Troika: Czech body art during Normalization

Narcissus' self-indulgence: performing individualism in the work of Petr Štembera

Czech philosophy and individualism

Individualism as a Marxist humanist methodology

Modelling individualism: self-wounding, loss of control, and endurance in Jan Mlčoch's work

Ambivalent levitations: individualising potentiality of solo performance in the work of Karel Miler

Self-serving generosity of performance documentation

Chapter 3: Days of joy: the political of public space in the work of Alex Mlynárčik

New Realism and appropriation of celebration in Happsoc I

Disidentifying public spheres

Festivity: towards a socialist conception of celebratory happening

Joy as a common affect

Juniáles (1970): folk feast and conviviality as a populist spark

Relational aesthetics in East-Central contexts

A Day of Joy (1971): populist performance in rural public space.

Eva's Wedding (1972): populism, performance and folklore

Argília (1975): limited freedoms in limited spaces for/by limited people

An apolitical political

Chapter 4: Total engagements: policing and artistic co-operation in the work of Aktual

Manifestos and manifestations: performing in public spaces

Necessary activity: policing of artistic games, and letter actions

International artistic exchange between Aktual, Fluxus, and Allan Kaprow

Public enemy: the policing of underground art and culture

A-Community, antagonism, and Demonstration of Togetherness

The slow dissolution of Aktual

From engagement to isolation

Conclusion: despiteoverwhelming greyness

Overwhelmed by Normalization: limitations and challenges

Bibliography

Online Resources

Other Sources

Archival Sources

Index.

Notes:

Description based on publisher supplied metadata and other sources.

Part of the metadata in this record was created by AI, based on the text of the resource.

OCLC:

1579268779